Not a bad bike at all, but it's failing is that it can't make up it's mind if it's one thing or the other. It's set up to be a light use MTB / rough towpath bike with semi-knobbly tyres, front suspension and a bouncy seatpost.
As a MTB, it's too frail, as a city commuter it's too heavy and bouncy. It's ideal use would be taking the kids for Sunday rides around forestry trails.
Using mine for a 10 mile hilly commute, mainly on cycle paths, I felt mine was let down by the front suspension and the poor Tioga tyres. I changed the tyres to semi-slicks which helped, and swapped the seat post to a solid one to which let me put the power down better.
The front suspension still made the bike far heavier than it needed to be (36 lb including a rack) and the suspension saps your effort when pedalling hard. Along the flat this wan't too much of a problem, but on the hilly bits of my commute the effort involved in climbing was excessive.
On the plus side, it's a well made bike with good components. The gears are a joy to use and the brakes powerful stoppers. It certainly isn't a bad bike, but you need to think hard about the useage you'll be putting it to. Hilly city commuting isn't its forte.
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